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| Christine Starr with the dogs she rescued from the shelter after her beloved Shih Tzu was torn apart by a pit bull |
The attack took place in the parking lot of the Animal Welfare League in Chicago Ridge, where the pit bull named Jock was being taken because the owner was “unable to properly care for it,” police said.
Christine Starr said she never will forget the horror as she witnessed as her beloved Maddie being mauled. The Shih Tzu underwent emergency surgery but died 11 days later.
The owner of the pit bull, Melanise Loving, 25, of South Holland, was fined $50 by the village on Sept. 10, Mayor Eugene Siegel said. That’s the fine charged by Chicago Ridge for letting one’s dog run free.
Starr, 64, doesn’t think that’s enough.
“Fifty dollars? That’s an insult. My dog lost her life,” Starr said.
Starr was bringing Maddie in for a checkup because the 12-pound dog was not eating right. Starr saw the pit bull sitting near the entrance next to Loving, who told police the dog had been on a leash but slipped free.
“When I saw the dog running down the sidewalk, he came lunging forward so quickly,” Starr said. “I attempted to pick up my dog to protect her, but the dog was just too quick.”
The pit bull grabbed Maddie in its mouth and began shaking her violently for two to three minutes, Starr said.
“It was horrible. I thought she was going to die on the spot,” Starr said.
Starr tried to hit the pit bull with her purse to no avail, she said.
Shelter staffers came running out of the animal shelter, and an assistant veterinarian grabbed the pit bull’s tail and dragged it until it released Maddie, Starr said. Veterinarian Leo Paul grabbed Maddie and ran with her to the shelter, where emergency surgery was performed, Starr said.
“It was pretty bad,” Starr said, describing the dog’s injuries.
She said Maddie was a “family-oriented dog, very devoted and well-behaved, just a good dog all the way around.”
The pit bull was destroyed that day, police said.
Starr said she was not charged by the Animal Welfare League for the cost of surgery, but she’s still considering suing Loving, the village and the Animal Welfare League.
“I’m very upset with the village,” she said. “I think they should change the village code. What if a child gets injured by something like this?”
Siegel, who has talked with Starr several times, said while it’s unfortunate Starr’s dog died, the ordinance calls for a maximum fine of $50.
“That’s the fine. It’s out of my hands. But I will look into the ordinance. It could have been on the books for a few years,” Siegel said. “We don’t get too many cases like this.”
While Starr is distraught over losing her Shih Tzu, she later decided to take two Maltese dogs home from the Animal Welfare League.
“I saw them the day that Maddie died,” Starr said. “I had an instinct that bringing them home was meant to be.”
(Chicago Sun Times - September 28, 2011)
